Budget 2012

And whats the big talking point.
Yep you guess it the 50p tax band.

This was introduced by the Labour government to make those who gain the most from society pay a bigger share of the costs of the country.

What it actually did was increase the tax benefits of creating a personal service company to avoid tax.

Labour introduced the 50p tax rate in the name of fairness.

It was levied ontp earners of £150K and above.
That was less then 1% of the population bare in mind there are approx 30 million tax payers in the UK.

Well basically the boy stood up and slashed it to 45p in the pound.
Not really a shock there was it.
It's been in the news for god knows how long.

Question being was he right?
Stats from HMRC and OBR say it dragged in £3Bn in tax revenue.
Well 3 bill is a big number but not when you compare it to the taxation budget.
Infact its a bit of a joke.

What apperas to have happened in a nut shell is those with the dough saw a tax hike when Gordon Brown tried to slap through a populist policy on tax in a vain attempt to bolster his piss poor performance.
Yes indeed by the time he banged this through his 10 years of borrow send and never realising it had to be paid back where indeed starting to unravel.

As a result of the tax hike some well to do accountants gave these chaps a bit of loop hole in the means of a personal servic company as 1 example in order to reduce the tax burden on them.
In most cases it looks like the HMRC estimated it dropped their burden to approx 45%.

What I really want to do is see the actual numbers reported.
This 3 bn is approx 1/3rd of what it was supposed to bring in , and also what did it cost to manage that taxation band.

But still if a reduction to 45% means its not worth then persuing a loophole company and the full value is taxed at 45% then its a no brainer.
I mean 45% of 2 mill is a damn site better than 50% of 1 mill.

Anyway he went on with other bits about fuel, fags, booze etc.
Glad I dont smoke by the way...........5% above inflation ..... Jeez !!!!!!!!!


Then up stands David Milliband



Ooopppsss sorry I mean Ed Milliband.
Sorry another BBC fuck up ...............dont shoot the messenger !

And then he retorts with the usual diatribe about millionaires.
Well no wonder we got as a country into such a financial mess with Labout in charge if he thinks £150K a year makes you a millionaire.
And fantastic to see his right hand man, the man with his finger on the cash pulse .......... over his right shoulder the one and only Ed Blinky Balls.......... That will be the same Ed Balls who was in the treasury under Gordon Brown who was part of the toxic team who created this toxic mess.

Still Ok lets put the posturing away for the time being.
The 50p rate was a supposed vote winner thats all..........it failed to do that.

What I need to see a chunk of the HMRC report and the OBR statement saying as a tax it has not dragged in the cash it needed to have done.
Otherwise its just children agruing in the playground...........which is just what the HOC has become.

So c'mon ........ as the film says "Show me the Money"

However

Labour shouts long and shouts loud about fairness so........You would think that these high paid Labour politicians would be happy to pay their fair share of income tax, wouldn't you?

Think again. Here are a few big name who have senior positions in the Labour party:

Ken Livingstone, Labour candidate for Mayor of London

Lord Melvyn Bragg, Labour peer

Lord Mandelson, Labour peer and former Secretary of State for Business

Lord Sugar, Labour peer and star of The Apprentice

David Blunkett, Labour MP and former Home Secretary

David Miliband, Labour MP, former Foreign Secretary and brother of Labour leader Ed Miliband

Gordon Brown, Labour MP, former Chancellor, former Prime Minister, person who introduced the 50p tax rate.


So lets look a little further at the above

Ken Livingstone, Labour candidate for Mayor of London

Personal Service Company: SILVETA LIMITED

Income from: newspaper articles, TV appearances, speeches

Directors: Emma Beal (wife), Ken Livingstone

I will say nothing more about this odious bastard other than a quick visit to Guidos place wont inform you of !!!!!!


Lord Melvin Bragg (Labour peer)

Personal Service Company: MELVYN BRAGG LIMITED

Income from: various TV shows, books

Directors: Catherine Bragg (wife), Melvyn Bragg

Net Worth: £931,775

Note: It is not clear if this company is still trading.

Melvyn Bragg also runs DIRECTORS CUT PRODUCTIONS LTD with partner (and former ITV producer) Cathy Haslam. This company recently produced a BBC show about the British class system. Lord Bragg likes to claim that he is still working class, but he produces high brown arts shows, mixes with the right circles and avoids tax like any other rich person. That doesn't sound 'working class' to me.


Lord Peter Mandelson (Labour peer)

Personal Service Company: WILLBURY LIMITED

Income from: TV appearances, speeches, books, advisor jobs

Directors: unknown.

Registration Date: 26/05/2010

Net Worth: the company does not appear to have submitted accounts yet

Lord Mandelson is also a partner at GLOBAL COUNSEL LLP

Peter Mandelson was the person who went on TV to defend Labour's raising of income tax to 50%. What a shame that he doesn't feel the need to pay it himself.


Lord Alan Sugar (Labour peer)

Personal Service Company: AMSTAR MEDIA LIMITED

Income from: TV show, book

Directors: Danial Sugar, Simon Sugar, Andrew Cohen, Roger Adams, Michael Ray, Claude Mitner (but not Alan Sugar)

Net Worth: £2,401,935

These days his main business interests are his large property portfolio which he bought with all the wealth that he earned by selling off Amstrad.

For the sake of this article I will just look at Lord Sugar's income from his TV show and books. This is money from his own work, not from employing others. This income morally should be taxed as income tax, not corporation tax.

According to the register of members interests he earns money from TV and book writing and the proceeds go into Amstar Media Limited.

Here is a summary of the Amstar Media Limited accounts:
2009 2010 2011

Profit before tax £208,245 £399,935 £2,710,539
Profit after tax £149,938 £287,953 £1,964,043
Tax paid £58,307 £111,982 £746,496
Tax rate 28% 28% 28%

If Lord Sugar had paid income tax on his earnings from working on a TV show and writing a book then he would have paid 50p tax plus National Insurance, so the effective tax rate would be 52% (plus the employer would pay an additional 6%).

By avoiding income tax using his personal services company, the government has lost 58% of the amount but gets 28% in corporation tax. Lord Sugar is effectively paying less than half of the tax that he should be.

The curious thing is that the Amstar Media Limited bank balance not reflect this money and the company does not pay wages or directors. I think the reason is that Amstar Media Limited is owned by Lord Sugars holding company, AMSHOLD GROUP LIMITED. This company has over £120 million in the bank and a net worth of £264,472,000.

Amshold Group Limited should not be confused with AMSHOLD LIMITED, which is another Lord Sugar company that is registered in tax haven Jersey and which has a net worth of £216,144,994.

It appears that the profits (i.e. Lord Sugar's personal income from working as a TV celebrity) goes into his holding group company, which also includes several other companies - mainly related to his property investments.

Another of Lord Sugar's companies is AMSVEST LIMITED. I believe that this is the company that he uses to invest in companies co-owned by the winners of The Apprentice. That money looks like it comes from Amstar Media Limited via Lord Sugar's holding group.

So, next time Alan Sugar claims that he will invest his personal money with the next Apprentice winner remember that half of that money really belongs to the tax payer because Lord Sugar avoided tax on his personal income.


David Blunkett

Personal Service Company: HADAW PRODUCTIONS AND INVESTMENTS LTD

Income from: adviser jobs, speeches, lecturing job

Directors: Hugh Blunkett, Andrew Blunkett, Alastair Blunkett, David Blunkett

Net worth: £683,783 (2011)
According to the register of members interests, the company received income from:
- advisor to scandal hit A4E Ltd (which the Labour party are trying to associate with David Cameron only......not 1 of their own was in it)
- advisor to scandal hit News International (again, which Labour try to associate with the Conservatives)
- advisor to US based Secure Trading Inc.
- lecturing at the London School of Business and Finance
- various speaking engagements

These are all jobs which he has personally undertaken, but where the money was paid into the company to avoid income tax. According to the register he has not received any income from the company, but as he has family members as directors he can avoid inheritance and income tax by letting them receive income from it.

David Blunkett has also donated cash to the Labour party in the past. What a shame that the money came from avoiding paying income tax.


David Miliband MP

Personal Service Company: THE OFFICE OF DAVID MILIBAND LIMITED

Income from: unknown (possibly newspaper articles, TV appearances, speeches, various advisor jobs, teaching jobs)

Directors: Louse Miliband (wife?), David Miliband

Note: this company was registered 21/12/2010 (after he lost the Labour party leadership) but is not mentioned in the register of members interests yet. I cannot find any accounts for it either.
Note: I didn't bother including Tony Blair - we all know how little tax he pays on his fortune, but at least he employs a large team.


Gordon Brown MP

Personal Service Company: THE OFFICE OF GORDON AND SARAH BROWN LIMITED

Income from: book, speeches, lecturing jobs, adviser jobs

Director: Sarah Brown (wife) - but not, it seems, Gordon Brown!

Note: this company was registered 1/9/2010 (after he lost the general election) and I cannot find any accounts for it yet.

AND FINALLY .............. The 1 the Only



Tony Blair - we all know how little tax he pays on his fortune, but at least he employs a large team.


So the title of the Labour Election manifesto was bang on then.




In case there was any doubt .............. I cant stand hypocrits and I cant stand socialism .......... the worst politics there is !!!!!!






Hat Tip Here

Ed, Ed and Gordy .............. The plot thickens !!

Some days you wake up and to see the news, then a massive smile comes across your face when you then see that all the time you knew that Ed Balls was a poisonous shit, it now actually comes out and proves that he is really is.

Oh that feeling.

Today we find out in the Telegraph about "The key role" played by shadow chancellor Ed Balls in a “brutal” plot to destroy Tony Blair. In secret documents.




Mr Balls, as well as the current Labour leader Ed Miliband, began scheming to divide their party within weeks of the 2005 general election in a plot codenamed Project Volvo, which was launched as London was under attack from Islamic terrorists.




This newspaper has seen letters between Mr Blair and Gordon Brown which reveal the extraordinary rift at the heart of Labour.

The cache of documents show for the first time Mr Brown’s feelings towards Mr Blair in his own words and handwriting, material which has previously only been the subject of speculation and second-hand reports from anonymous sources.

Mr Brown makes it clear, in a series of memos, that he regarded his rival as a “muddled” lightweight whose obsession with spin destroyed trust in politics. He used the perception of “lies” over the Iraq War to try to force Mr Blair’s early departure.

Mr Brown ordered Mr Balls to take a “brutal” approach to cleanse the Labour Party of Mr Blair’s influence.

Mr Blair’s memoirs, the updated version of which were published yesterday, detail his frustration with his Chancellor’s behaviour. In one memo, he warned Mr Brown that the “division at the top is killing us”.

The Ed Balls files — the personal papers of Mr Balls which have been passed to The Daily Telegraph — set out in detail how those around Mr Brown plotted from July 2005 to remove Mr Blair from No 10.

They give an insight into Mr Balls’s central role in the plot, with Mr Brown passing his former aide the most secret memos that Mr Blair sent to him in confidence.

The files disclose details of secret meetings, opinion polls on Mr Blair’s policies and how Mr Brown’s allies tried to rebrand his image.

Three of the key conspirators now occupy the most senior positions in the Labour Party: Mr Balls, Mr Miliband and Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary.

More than 30 people, including figures in politics, business and the arts, are named as being involved. Most were rewarded with peerages or government positions by Mr Brown.

Private memos between Mr Brown and Mr Balls heavily criticise Mr Blair, and the pair discussed how to undermine the Prime Minister.

The disclosure of more than 30 documents will call into question Mr Balls’s senior role in the party, as he emerges as a deeply divisive character whose public statements and private activities have been at odds.

Mr Balls has previously insisted he had “never ever” been involved in attempts to undermine colleagues.

The files show how Mr Balls was at the centre of an extraordinary attempt to broker a deal between Mr Brown and Mr Blair to let the Chancellor become prime minister.

In February 2006, Mr Blair sent Mr Brown a secret unsigned letter setting out terms of a proposed deal.

The letter says: “You (understandably) want me to go now.

“You need to be the candidate of continuity and change. The second will be relatively easy to do. A different person is, by its nature, change.

“The first, however, rests on a smooth transition. Critical to that is not merely the absence of disunity in the handover; it is also the visible, clear demonstration that the person who most embodies NL [New Labour], ie me, is working hand in hand with the successor.”

He suggests a five-point deal that includes Mr Brown leading on party reform, democratic renewal and work to tackle Islamic extremism. The pair would work together and Mr Blair would then announce he would leave in summer 2007.

Mr Blair concludes that “in return” he would need “full help and co-operation in getting through his own reform agenda: NHS, schools, respect, welfare and energy.”

He ends with a warning: “Whilst I remain PM, the final decision has to be mine; and that cannot provoke a breakdown. I will try, at all costs, to avoid disagreement, but there can’t be stalemate if it happens.”

On a copy of the letter he passed to Mr Balls, Mr Brown scribbled the words “shallow”, “inconsistent” and “muddled”. The pair responded by drawing up their own terms.

In a draft of his deal document, which he intended Mr Blair to sign, Mr Brown wrote: “I propose the following: Across a wide range of areas you [Brown] are put in charge of future working groups beyond economic policy so that Labour with you leading is seen as party able to meet big challenges of future.”

“You [Brown] will however set out with my full support and that of my team, the agenda for beyond 2007 and for the next parliament.”

Mr Brown also set out the need for written six-month, twelve-month and two-year plans, and a written agreement for strategy to deal with David Cameron. He also demanded a role in Cabinet reshuffles and that he attend international meetings.

Mr Blair, who is understood to have been incensed by the rudeness of Mr Balls, rejected the proposals.

The talks were the culmination of more than six months of plotting by the Brownites. The files show that the plot began on July 19, 2005, less than a fortnight after the terror attacks on London. Mr Balls had only become an MP at the election in May.

Six of those closest to Mr Brown — Mr Balls, Mr Miliband, Mr Alexander, Sue Nye, Spencer Livermore and Ian Austin — formed a “small group” to perform tasks including winning over MPs, unions, party members and think tanks. Sarah Brown, Mr Brown’s wife, was also asked to persuade senior women in Labour to back her husband.


Now we all knew Gordon Brown was a little unhinged. His use of MAOI's,his bigot gate scandal, the famous NOKIA hurling incidents .............. are not news.

However Ed BAlls appeared with Brillo and categorically denied on film he had any part in any dealings of his nature .............. oh how the chickens have come home to roost. Here is the link

Ed Balls you are a pathological liar ............ The people of Morley and Outwood in Leeds should be ashamed of themselves.

If I was Ed Miliband I would be seriously looking over my shoulder about now. This man has eyes on the leadership and NOTHING will get in his way.

However ask yourself this Mr Miliband ............ Would you really trust a man who dresses like this because its funny...................

..................NO neither would I !!!!!

Labour/Fabian/Socialism .............. You Failed

Somewhere, amongst all the various gnashing of teeth and outraged indignation, lies a small grave containing the battered and bruised body of a young child, failed by firstly his parents, secondly by those who were instructed to care for him and thirdly by a system designed to remove all responsibility from anyone.

A catastrophic failure of Fabianism. From the foreign doctor in the NHS who "missed" a broken back yet filled all the correct PC quotas, to the council housing department that missed a known violent criminal moving in with the failed mother with no education but a hand full of certificates for "paying attention" at school, to the benefits system which allowed her to perpetuate the squalor of single motherhood, to the Common Purpose trained "state nannies" paid to ensure that the State could raise her child if she couldn't to the head of Department, promoted by strictly faithfully to the Fabian agenda of "destroy the family, the State is the best Parent" to the father of the whole thing. Ed Balls, who had the responsibility to make sure his idealogical vision of being the Shepherd to a weak and pathetic flock was enforced.

And when it failed, Sharon Shoesmith felt the full wrath of Stalin shooting his Generals. In the panic to blame someone, anyone but the system, she was out. Vilified by the media and her fellow Fabians, she was a FAILURE, a traitor to her masters in Westminster. She killed Baby P with her own bare hands.

Except she didn't. Tracey Connelly and Peter Barker, themselves proud products of the brave new Fabian world did. Brutal, uncaring, sadistic scum, supported right to the very top of Government in their actions.

Look in the mirror Ed. This is the world you and your fellow Fabians constructed. Your arrogance in inflicting the collective responsibility over personal responsibility means many more children will die at the hands of parents who are expressly told NOT to take responsibility because the all caring, all powerful State is the true master can do it better.



H/T to OH !!!

So it was a Lie

See Here

It now transpires that a Foreign Office minister sent Libyan officials detailed legal advice on how to use Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s cancer diagnosis to ensure he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds.

Gordon Brown you duplicitous lying bastard.

Bill Ramall name seems in the frame here...................yes the same said Bill Ramall who was involved in the soldiers compensation cut back plan.

Funny how the same bunch of shit sticks seem to come out from under their rocks.

What gauls me is that when this shitty incident occurred my proud wee country was hammered.

Hundered ..........nee Thousands of blog posts popped up all over the world...........most viciously from the USA slating us.

Called us cowards
Calling us crooks
Calling us Traitors even.

Banning of Scottish goods, holiday over here etc etc.

When all the time it was Westminster and Blair who started it off........Ramell made it happen..........Brown lied about it..............and The playboy Price Andrew also had his sticky fingers in the pie.

The SNP administration were duped................but sadly as a proud Scot and an SNP voter I feel they also lied.
They did not have to do it...............but they did.

And for that I am truely gutted.

There are no people of sustance anyomore in our political system. They to a man bend/contort and massage the system to suit themselves and never for the benefit of us. We can not hold them to account easily. The exp scandal has shown that

Spot The Lying Bastard Competition - Chilcot Edition

Have a go............its free to Enter !!!

Alan Johnson and the Twisted Ed Balls

Ed Balls really is a twisted sick bastard of an individual.

He was reeling from the arrival of Ed Milliband into the top chair of the champagne socialists club.

Then he saw his much coveted position of Shadow Chancellor go to Alan Johnson.



Then what emerges yesterday is this..............that Alan Johnson quit frontline politics after discovering his wife had had an affair with his police protection officer.



Now Alan had a feeling this was going on.............this was not a shock. Indeed rumours around Westminster had it going on............what was certain though was that the public did not know it and that it would inevitably destroy Alan.



Hours after the shock resignation, Scotland Yard launched disciplinary proceedings against Paul Rice, who had guarded Mr Johnson from potential terror attacks when he was Home Secretary.

The experienced detective constable, who has been protecting the current Home Secretary Theresa May, is expected to be suspended from duty within 24 hours.

Mr Johnson wed his second wife Laura, 47, in August 1991 and they have a ten-year-old son. But last night it was reported that the marriage was over.

Government sources said the Home Office had been made aware of the affair. Mr Johnson abruptly announced yesterday that he was facing ‘personal issues in my private life’ and could no longer cope with his high-profile role


So with Alan out of the way that leaves the door open for Ed Balls to walk right into his shoes and become the No2 to Red Ed.

Oh don't talk daft Tlotf.................pure coincidence.

Or is it.............?

It also emerges this am that Ed Balls Special Adviser Alex Belardinelli, as the person who has been making inquiries into Alan Johnson’s private life. Shadow Cabinet sources say they believe the Sunday Times has the story.

It is believed that Ed Balls’ people have had a hand in the story getting out.

Balls chose his moment well, a series of gaffes by Alan Johnson had left him politically weakened.


I don't think that Alan needed to quit over this. OK he was flawed as the Shadow Cash King.............he had made a few gaffes, but that aside citing that as the reason to quit need not have happened.

I am no Labour supporter but I wish Alan well and hope he gets it sorted.

Ed Balls however is a duplicitous bastard. He always was and always will be the prime ideal of a snake. This action if true means no fucker is safe. I now hope he goes on to lead the Labour Party and gets all he deserves as a result.


I watched ITV news last night...........I watched an interview with Ed Balls.
I watched him stand there spouting forth about Alan Johnson, great friend, great politician, great parliamentarian but I also noticed a smug fucking grim of self satisfaction on his slapable face, knowing he had got his wish even by his underhand methods. (check the link above for proof)

I only hope that people realise the Labour Party record on public spending, under Gordon Brown was also instigated by Ed Balls as Browns advisor in the treasury when he was at No11. The car crash has returned and god help us in the future should Labour return to power as we sit today in excess of a Trillion in Debt.




Ed Balls = wanker

God What a Prick !

Labour leader Ed Miliband has accused the Coalition of spreading the "myth" that Britain's debts were caused by the last Government spending too much rather than a global financial crisis.

In an article in The Times, Mr Miliband said Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne were leading the country in the wrong direction.

He said their "politically motivated desire to propagate a myth about the last Labour government" was being used to justify cutting too deep and too fast.

Mr Miliband said the pair were "airbrushing" history and ignoring the fact Britain's debt at the start of the crisis was the second-lowest in the G7 and lower than it had been under the Conservatives.

He warned a "great deceit designed to damage Labour has led to profoundly misguided and dangerous economic decisions that I fear will cause deep damage to Britain's future".

Holy Jesus Bloody Christ

What a deluded arse.

Ed for god sake.............look at this wee graph I have here.




It clearly shows your Party (under its previous regime I agree) and yes you where in the cabinet so most probably did know what was going on..........borrowed more and more money ......far beyond your income stream and clearly were unable to pay it back.

Look at least try and be reasonably fair on us voters. We are not fucking stupid.

We know you are a puppet leader placed in charge by the unions as your elder brother.......... you know the 1 who could have led your party better but was a Tony Blair clone was not what the union paymasters wanted........but at least stop spouting this crap.

You are deluded............the situation is dire..........we as a country have no money..........less than no money based on the actions of your party.

You would get more face by saying oooops yes got that wrong, by learning from the mistake and at least working to repair it.

Instead to treat me and every tax paying sucker in this country with total contempt.

WANKER

Phil "Custard Pie" Woolas

Well well well Phil, you snivelling, expense stealing, little turd.
And yes it was expense stealing as 1 of the things this thief claimed for was tampons.

Not only did Joanna Lumley give you your ass on a plate and made you look a total dick but you have now gone on and proven it all by yourself.
In fact you have a history of being a total cock don't you....... see here.

I am referring to the fact Phil Woolas MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth..........err well not anymore has been proven by high court judges in a special court of breaking election law.

See here

Well other may have blogged on this topic as well but what I want to draw attention to is the Judges Actual statement on the verdict.

They are here.

In particular....."It suggests that he is untrustworthy. The statement was false and the respondent had no reasonable ground for believing it to be true and did not believe it to be true.

"It follows in our judgment that the respondent is guilty of an illegal practice, contrary to section 136 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 with regard to those statements."

Post the appointment of RedED Milliband as leader of the People Popular Front oooops sorry the Labour Party.............Ed also proved himself a total cock as well by making him Shadow Immigration Minister.

Oh the sheer hypocrisy...........Shadow Immigration Minister and a man proven to use race hate as part of a campaign.

Well Ed......bit of advice............you need to remove this racist from his post and ban him from the Labour Party.

A court of judges has proven him to have broken the law!!!!
He played a race card !!!!

Should a complaint be sent to Greater Manchester Police I am sure they would have to carry out a formal investigation.................potential criminal charges !!!!!!


Update from Guidos Gaff

He has been found guilty on two counts of breaking the Representation of the People Act by making false election statements. No appeal, by-election in Oldham imminent.

UPDATE: Labour HQ is silent but the distancing has already begun. Lord Falconer just told the BBC he doesn’t believe that Woolas will be the candidate at the by-election. Red Ed is in a very tricky spot here…

UPDATE II: Woolas is making noises about attempting a Judicial Review. Hope he’s got a pretty penny…

Mark My Words

I will not accept Clegg doing a deal with Gordon Brown on a lie about the economy linked to Labour Leadership change in the autumn as a method of Labour to hold onto power.


They are supposed to work for us.

This is not democracy.

Source

Fast Working Bankers

The part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland has announced it is cutting a further 2,600 UK-based jobs.

WOW

The cynic in me would have thought the Labour Govenrment which owns 2/3rds of the bank (Using my Tax cash) would have kept this quiet before the GE last week.

Damn those high paid executives work fast since Friday Morning Eh

Source

Why the sudden unburdening?

I am very confused here today.

2 separate reports in 2 separate MSM streams on the same sort of subject.

Why is the PM now admitting mistakes.

See here

And see here

For years this man has refused point blank to admit the sun comes up in the morning.............and now "oh dear me.........what a silly boy I am".

Is this an election ploy?
Is this the oh sorry Iam human?
Give me another go plleeeeeaaaaasssssseeeeee?

The thing I struggle with is we have been treated like we are stupid, and we know where the problem lies so why all of a sudden admit it> I mean I would rather he had the conviction to maintain his position rather than fanny about with wishy washy stances..............grow some balls!!

So why did you sell it ??????

Gordon Brown has been ordered to release information before the general election about his controversial decision to sell Britain's gold reserves.

The decision to sell the gold taken by Mr Brown when he was Chancellor is regarded as one of the Treasury's worst financial mistakes and has cost taxpayers almost £7 billion.

Mr Brown and the Treasury have repeatedly refused to disclose information about the gold sale amid allegations that warnings were ignored.

Following a series of freedom of information requests from The Daily Telegraph over the past four years, the Information Commissioner has ordered the Treasury to release some details. The Treasury must publish the information demanded within 35 calendar days by the end of April.

The sale is expected to be become a major election issue, casting light on Mr Brown's decisions while at the Treasury.

Last night, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, demanded that the information was published immediately. " Gordon Brown 's decision to sell off our gold reserves at the bottom of the market cost the British taxpayer billions of pounds," he said. "It was one of the worst economic judgements ever made by a chancellor.

"The British public have a right to know what happened and why so much of their money was lost. The documents should be published immediately."

Between 1999 and 2002, Mr Brown ordered the sale of almost 400 tons of the gold reserves when the price was at a 20-year low. Since then, the price has more than quadrupled, meaning the decision cost taxpayers an estimated £7 billion, according to Mike Warburton of the accountants Grant Thornton.

It is understood that Mr Brown pushed ahead with the sale despite serious misgivings at the Bank of England. It is not thought that senior Bank experts were even consulted about the decision, which was driven through by a small group of senior Treasury aides close to Mr Brown.

The Treasury has been officially censured by the Information Commissioner over its attempts to block the release of information about the gold sales.

The Information Commissioner's decision itself is set to become the subject of criticism. The commissioner has taken four years to rule on the release of the documents, despite intense political and public interest in the sales. Officials have missed a series of their own deadlines to order the information's release, which will now prevent a proper parliamentary analysis of the disclosures.

It can also be disclosed that the commissioner has held a series of private meetings with the Treasury and has agreed for much of the paperwork to remain hidden from the public. The Treasury was allowed to review the decision notice when it was in draft form and may have been permitted to make numerous changes.

In the official notice, the Information Commissioner makes it clear that only a "limited" release of information has been ordered.

So it allows him to bury the "Real Truth".

Ed Balls, who is now the Schools Secretary, Ed Miliband, now the Climate Change Secretary, and Baroness Vadera, another former minister, were all close aides to the chancellor during the relevant period.

Notice how Badger Darlings replacement post the election "Ed Blinky Ball" name pops up again.

If the information is not released by the end of April, the Treasury will be in "contempt of court" and will face legal action. A spokesman said last night that the Treasury was not preparing to appeal against the ruling.



And finally a few facts on gold........and how the auctions cost taxpayer £7bn

*The price of gold has quadrupled since Gordon Brown sold more than half of Britains reserves. *The Treasury pre-announced its plans to sell 395 tons of the 715 tons held by the Bank of England, which caused prices to fall. *The bullion was sold in 17 auctions between 1999 and 2002, with dealers paying between $256 and $296 an ounce. Since then, the price has increased rapidly. Yesterday, it stood at $1,100 an ounce. *The taxpayer lost an estimated £7 billion, twice the amount lost when Britain left the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992. *The proceeds from the sales were invested in dollars, euros and yen. In recent years, most other countries have begun buying gold again in large quantities.

That Man in Oxford and his Fancy Smanshy Ideas !

The thing is though............I think he is spot on !!!

Go read right here..........and please read it all.



hmmmmmmmmm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!